Day 6 of the Manaiakalani Reading Practise Intensive was all about vocabulary.
As the day went on quickly I realised how much more intentional I need to be about including specific and direct vocabulary teaching into my literacy program. It's not that it doesn't happen rather, it happens somewhat haphazardly. This is because, at the year 7 & 8 level, the notable gaps have had to do with comprehension so I have focussed on this and vocabulary has taken a back seat. It's time to put it into the front seat :).
I am particularly interested in doing morphology work with my kids, breaking words into their prefixes, suffixes, and root words and studying them. I think my kids would really enjoy it, and my hope is that this would instil the love of words and language in them.
Kia ora Rob
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed reading your reflections on Day 6: Vocabulary (and decoding) but particularly your goal to be more deliberate and intentional in your vocabulary teaching. As vocabulary is so highly correlated with comprehension, any attempts to improve ‘notable gaps’ in comprehension, as you say, should include robust and systematic approaches to expanding and deepening students’ word knowledge (and use). Beck and McKeown consistently found in their research that important elements for improved outcomes were word consciousness, targeted choice of words for teaching (e.g. tier 2/3), systematic morphology work and interactive approaches involving multiple word exposures. I look forward to following how you target and implement more deliberate teaching that includes these elements.
I think your point about word walls and displays ‘falling over’ is a valid one. Sandy and I were having this same conversation. Maintenance, relevance and purposefulness are some of the factors influencing how long before a word display becomes redundant - although I would argue, continuing to have words referenceable and visible will still add value to any classroom space.
Where a vocabulary wall display or space worked for me, learners contributed to the display, in some cases with open opportunities to add words they had discovered (e.g. as ‘word magpies’ or where I had created specific displays they interacted with in more accountable ways (e.g. each learner adds a ‘survival word’ from their instructional text that week; learners keep tallies or get rewarded for using the word of the week at home in conversation, in hearing of the teacher, or noticing from reading the news/on TV; adding tier 3 words to a life size human skeleton or states of matter display). I think the examples we showed you in the Pulling it all Together session support this. Having reusable laminated paper shapes and a marker pen (or even just coloured paper) handy means you can get students to write words up at any teachable moment and add to the display ‘real time’. Getting them to then reference and use those words in an activity, or in their writing, means the display will continue to have purpose and value.
I look forward to hearing how you get on with your plans to be more deliberate in your approach and with the practice implementations for homework.
Nga mihi
Naomi R.
Literacy Facilitator - Manaiakalani Reading Practice Intensive